Chapomanía in Sinaloa

20/02/2019

Action figures made with ground animal bones, collectable figures and traditional Mexican games with the face of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera are sold in Sinaloa after the drug trafficker was convicted in a US court.

After the trial of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the sale of articles about him has increased. Photo: El Chapo action figure / Courtesy of Vanguardia.

Guzman's three-month trial in New York, which culminated on February 12, revived in Sinaloa the furore over the capo, the "narcocultura" and the gratitude that residents of communities in the Sierra de Badiraguato and Culiacán have.

In recent days there have been increased visits from people who will ask for "El Chapo" or thank favors in the chapel of Jesús Malverde (1870-1909), a bandit known as the "Saint of the Narcos" and protector of the poor , in Culiacán, capital of the state.

"Right now, because of what is going on, many people come to ask him (Malverde) to give him peace of mind (al Chapo), to give him strength to endure everything that is happening, a lot, but many people have come, They have found many candles with their name on pieces of paper, people come and thank you for the favors and also ask for El Chapo, "said Jesús González, in charge of the chapel.

In the last months, with the trial of Guzmán, a new product arrived at the stores of scapulars and candles of the place: a figure or statuette of "El Chapo", a character that was one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico and the world by drug dealing.

According to the vendors, the figure is made of ground bones mixed with resin. The "Chapo" is standing on a base where he reads # 701, has blue denim pants, pink shirt, hat, a bulletproof vest with four grenades, radio at the waist and a long gun in his hands.

The value is 800 pesos and measures around 30 centimetres high.

In the last months, with the trial of Guzmán, a new product arrived at the stores of scapulars and candles of the place: a figure or statuette of "El Chapo", a character that was one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico and the world by drug dealing.

According to the vendors, the figure is made of ground bones mixed with resin. The "Chapo" is standing on a base where he reads # 701, has blue denim pants, pink shirt, hat, a bulletproof vest with four grenades, radio at the waist and a long gun in his hands.

They also sell the "narcolotería". The cards of this traditional Mexican game bring the faces of drug trafficking characters such as "La Barbie", "El Mencho", "El Vicentillo", "El Serafín", "El Azul" and "El Chapo" Guzmán and their children. In the centre, San Judas Tadeo and Malverde. This has a cost of 750 pesos.

The leather scapulars with the photograph of Guzmán sell them in 50 pesos, the shirts in 300 pesos, and the black caps with the initials JGL or the Sinaloa Cartel in gold letters in 100 pesos.

In the municipality of Badiraguato, where La Tuna is located, the hometown of Chapo, there are those who venerate it even more than Malverde or any saint for the construction of schools and help their people in difficult times.

On February 12, the jury of the trial against Guzmán Loera found him guilty of 10 charges against him as responsible for the Sinaloa cartel, for which he could be sentenced to life imprisonment.

The jury heard 56 verdicts before its verdict, of which 14 were cooperators of the US Government.

The judge of the federal court of Brooklyn, in New York, Brian Cogan, has now the mission to establish the sentence of what has been the most mediatic and important case.